Well, since my friend ABrooks used my name in the saga of the B-23...
First a comment as a CAF General Staff guy (brickbats and rude remarks expected), John Beyl, Doug Jeanes, Gary, all understand what the limitations are with the CAF and airplanes like the PBY and the B-23 and others that are moldering away. They have expressed the predominant view: anything is possible with money and motivated people. So, where are you? That PBY was junk in 1991: what was useable was taken for other birds so they could fly. If there was such an outcry for "saving" it THEN, along with a plan and some proof of financial wherewithall, the CAF would have listened and acted. We (current GS) still will. The line forms on the left....
As for the B-23. It was essentially in a non-flyable state in 1991. The newly formed High Sky Wing decided that it was a project that they were interested in. Bother Jeanes encouraged the effort to at least bring the airplane to Midland. (remove it from salty air, etc) When the crew arrived at the airport they did not find an airplane that could be easily (or even with difficulty) made flyable. They dissassembled the airplane, (which had been heavily damaged by an airport employee there with a fork lift, the engines were frozen, there were big pieces like the gear doors and fairing pieces missing, the list is long and not pretty...) brought it to Midland, spent buckets of cash and sweat equity on it for the next five years, and then ran out of money and enthusiasm. It would have cost THEN half a million dollars to fix what was wrong with the airplane. I'm sure the cost for that has escalated. It is "up for assignment" still, so anyone who wants to present a plan and show the financial support necessary to fix it is welcome to come to the GS. Again, the line forms on the left....I for one have advocated that the airplane become a part of the American Airpower Heritage Museum (another part of the CAF) but that would mean moving it from the "Flying Museum" collection to the non-flying AAHM. Maybe one day that will happen...
MarineAir mentioned some things that the CAF could do, relative to improving the fleet. Sound ideas, but the way the CAF works now, it won't happen. Here is why.
The CAF is essentially a franchise operation....think McDonald's with airplanes and not burgers. All the financial resources, the "entreprenuerial spirit" to take on projects, maintain and operate the airplanes, etc, all happens at the unit level. You can't go to McDonald's HQ building and buy a hamburger, nor can you go to CAF HQ and get an airplane, or find all of them being operated by some small group of power-hungry bureaucrats. I like to tell my fellow GS members that the name "Confederate" was most appropriate, not because of our so-called southern heritage, but because of the governmental structure of the organization. Our President is like Jefferson Davis....has to rely on the good will of more than seventy units and detachments and the six thousand plus members to get anything done. And trust me, all six thousand plus know exactly what is wrong with the organization and can fix it in a trice if only "They" would follow just a few suggestions.
Rather than dump on the CAF on this board, I think it is better to focus on the warbird movement, which was essentially started by the CAF, and discuss the positives, like Gary's outstanding work on the B-24 and B-29, etc, while we nudge the CAF along for another fifty years. We're always on the lookout for folks to help out with this imperfect organization.
Old Shep
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